All Sorts of Wrong
by PenguinBuddy
Summary: James thought that Fred daring Al to kiss the next girl to walk into the common room would be a laugh until the next girl to walk in was Eva Wood. Prequel to "Game On."
1. James Experiences Jealousy and Denial

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.

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"**All Sorts of Wrong" **

_Dedicated to MollytheMonster, for prompting me to write something from James's point of view._

**A/N: I've written this oneshot so that it can be read as a stand-alone story, but it's also a companion piece to my chapter story "Game On." For those of you who have read "Game On" this story is a short prequel and takes place in James and Eva's sixth year before "Game On" begins. **

**I hope you enjoy it! **

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On the morning of 10 December, James Potter had no reason to suspect that by the end of the day his life would have changed in a way he would never have expected. It started out just like any other number of days in his life. He did all of the normal things - went for a run, ate in the Great Hall, attended lessons, and rowed with Eva Wood multiple times in the course of the day.

Eva Wood was, in fact, the reason that 10 December turned out to be so unusual and life changing for James. She was a fellow Gryffindor in the same year as him and he quite honestly thought that she was one of the most obnoxious people he'd ever met. They both played for the Gryffindor Quidditch team – had for years now – and they argued constantly about anything related to Quidditch. James often found himself annoyed that she pretended to know so much about Quidditch when he was clearly the one with a superior knowledge of the sport.

Even though they played for the same team, James and Eva were rivals on the pitch. He was a Seeker and she was a Chaser, but that didn't stop them from nitpicking at each other's abilities. Just that morning at practice, she had bossily criticized his grip on his broom as if she was the captain, instead of seventh-year Sean O'Mara. James looked forward to the day when _he_ was captain and he had the authority to officially tell her to stuff it.

After dinner was when everything began changing for James Potter. He was still a bit sore from morning Quidditch practice as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower after a detention spent scrubbing the floor of the Potions classroom.

Upon entering the common room, he spotted his younger brother and cousin sitting in the squashy armchairs by the fireplace. Mercifully, there was a vacant armchair and it looked as though Fred had brought down his rucksack for him. James threw himself down on to the cushions with a groan. Closing his eyes, he reveled in finally being able to sit down somewhere soft. The stone floor of the dungeons had been very cold and hard.

"C'mon, mate, I dare you," Fred was saying to Al.

"No."

"It will be a laugh," Fred insisted, his voice brimming with unconcealed mirth.

Al said nothing. He was probably ignoring Fred in favor of reading the book he had been holding. That happened a lot.

James's curiosity got the better of him (as it so often did) and he peeled his eyes open. "What's the dare?"

Fred grinned mischievously, white teeth gleaming. "You know the mistletoe above the portrait hole entrance?"

"The one we put there?"

Charming the mistletoe had been a late night prank idea that he and Fred had come up with a week ago. Fred had used it to steal a (very unwilling) kiss from fifth year Susanna Peters and since then, other students had been inspired to do the same. James himself had been accosted by a fourth year girl with pigtails and braces. Fighting her off hadn't been easy; she was stronger than she appeared.

"The very same. I dared Al to kiss the next girl that comes through the portrait hole."

James felt his mouth curve into a characteristic smirk. "Go on, Al, it will be a laugh," he encouraged his brother.

Al was a bit shy when it came to girls, and James thought that maybe he just needed a bit of a push in the right direction to help him build some confidence.

Al glanced up from his work with narrowed eyes. "Why should I make a complete fool out of myself in front of the entire common room?"

"You've never kissed a girl," Fred teased Al. "It's got to happen sometime, hasn't it?"

"So what if I haven't?" Al said trying to sound casual, but the pinkness tingeing his ears belied his self-consciousness on the subject.

"I'll buy you four bags of chocolate frogs," James offered. His brother had a weakness for chocolate that was pathetically easy to use to his advantage when he wanted to. Besides, he highly doubted that Al would actually go through with the dare.

"She has to be a third year or older," Al said firmly, closing his book with a sharp snap. "I am _not_ kissing any first years."

James very nearly laughed out loud at the mental image of Al locking lips with a titchy first year.

"Fine," he agreed easily.

"Oh come on, I want to see Al kiss a first year," Fred complained looking very put out by Al's conditions for completing the dare.

"I'm a Prefect," Al retorted with a disgusted expression. "I'm not going around _harassing_ the younger students."

James watched with unconcealed amusement as Al stood fidgeting by the portrait hole waiting for his victim to enter. Was it his imagination, or was Al actually wringing his hands? In the chair next to him, Fred was apparently so concerned with not missing a moment of any of action that might take place that he was watching the common room entrance so intently that he barely appeared to be blinking.

James found himself wondering if his brother would actually go through with the dare. It looked as though Al might be able to summon the courage (he was currently taking deep, calming breaths) and that he, James, would be purchasing a lot of chocolate frogs at the next Hogsmeade visit.

Then the portrait swung open and Eva Wood clambered through the portrait hole entrance. She pushed her light brown hair out of her face and James sucked in a breath as he realized with a strange jolt what would happen if Al went through with the dare.

"Sorry about this," Al said apologetically, an expression of utmost chagrin displayed on his face.

"Al, what – " she began to ask, but was cut off as Al grabbed her by the shoulders and somewhat roughly pressed his lips against hers. Eva's blue eyes were held open extremely wide in surprise.

Al…kissing Eva Wood…James found the scene playing out in front of him incredibly unsettling, but he couldn't force himself to look away. His brother and his Quidditch rival were _kissing_. Okay, to be fair, Al was the one doing the kissing. It looked as though Eva was frozen in place in a state of pure shock. But still! It was _wrong_.

There was a small commotion as a few people clapped and cheered rowdily. Fred was practically doubled over in his chair and cackling like the loon he was. What was the matter with everyone? Didn't anyone else see what a catastrophe this was? _Al and Eva? _The thought made James's stomach squirm in distaste.

"What are you doing?" James demanded loudly. He realized suddenly that at some point, he had jumped to his feet without being fully aware of it. He was also pointing an accusatory finger at the pair in front of him. When had that even _happened_?

Al pulled quickly away from Eva and released his grip on her shoulders. Both of their faces were exceptionally pink. Al's ears were a startling red color.

"You dared me to," Al explained slowly, bright green eyes filled with confusion as he regarded James standing in front of him in a threatening manner.

James couldn't blame him for being confused. In fact, he was feeling extraordinarily confused himself. All he knew was that Al kissing Eva was all sorts of wrong.

"I can kiss whomever I bleeding well choose, Potter!" Eva shot back at him.

"Not when it's _Al_," James spluttered.

"Hey!" Al cried indignantly. "I'm your _brother_. What's wrong with me?"

What _was _wrong with Al kissing Eva Wood? James wondered. Besides everything.

"_Get away from my sister_!" Eva's older brother, Tristan, was standing at the foot of the boys' stairwell, apparently having seen everything that had taken place moments before.

Clearly, seeing a boy kiss his younger sister did not sit well with him. At all.

As though Tristan had jinxed him, Al jumped even further away from Eva. Which, James thought, Al being hexed by an angry older brother might shortly be a very real possibility. Tristan was well known among the Gryffindors for being a bit rash.

"You are not allowed to be kissing anyone!" Tristan huffed as he stormed up to the group forming in front of the portrait hole. "You're not old enough. And even if you were, you shouldn't be putting on a show front of the whole common room."

"Sorry?" Eva turned to face her brother, her arms folded tightly across her chest. She was wearing that same expression that she wore whenever she and James rowed. Not a good sign at all.

Even James had to admit that Eva Wood had gumption. She didn't suffer fools easily and she wasn't very good at pretending that she didn't think people were idiots when they were. She stood up for herself and was clever and stubborn. Eva called him out when he was being a prat and strangely enough….he liked that about her. In that respect, she reminded him a bit of his mum and his younger sister, Lily.

But that was the only thing he liked about her other than that she could keep up with him at Quidditch. Of course, so could Tristan, but there was some indefinable quality that set Eva apart from the others on the Gryffindor team.

Sure, she was pretty – long, wavy, light brown hair, tanned skin, bright, sparkling blue eyes, brilliant smile - but she was entirely too insufferable for James's liking. And they were rivals. He could never see her as anything more than that. That would just be ridiculous.

"You're not old enough," Tristan repeated. "I'm just looking out for you. You know you don't have any…_experience_ with this sort of thing."

Al had been Eva's first kiss? Oh, _Godric_…

"I'm sixteen!" she cried. "I don't need looking after by a brother who's only a year older. I might remind you that _you_ have a girlfriend, and I've seen you exchange far more salvia than I've ever wanted to."

"_Again_ – "Al asked, seeming quite perturbed, "what's wrong with me?"

"Everything," James answered, distracted by the way Eva's eyes were currently blazing with emotion.

There was just something about that girl. Something that put him on edge, something that made him want to start a row with her just to see her eyes blaze.

"_What_?" cried Al. "What does that mean?"

"You heard him, _everything_," Tristan repeated, his brown eyes boring angrily into Al.

"We're friends, you prat," Eva huffed in annoyance. "Stop being such an idiot and go for a fly. You'll feel better."

"It was a dare," Al again tried to explain. "They told me to!" he pointed wildly at James and Fred. Clearly, the bloke was panicking a bit.

"I don't care if the Minister for Magic told you to do it!"

"Tristan, _you plank_," Eva sighed in what James recognized as extreme exasperation. She often took the same tone of voice with him, so he was extremely familiar with it.

"There is _nothing _between Al and me! It was a dare! He was practically grimacing the whole five seconds."

"It's because she's my friend, not because she's bad at kissing," Al protested in apparent worry that it would sound as though he was offending Eva. However, he seemed to regret his words as Tristan's glare only intensified.

"I'm telling Richard and Gareth," Tristan said firmly and stalked out of the common room. Richard and Gareth were Tristan and Eva's twin brothers. They might have been fourth years, but every bit as protective of Eva as Tristan.

"That was not five seconds," James muttered under his breath.

Eva's gaze swung sharply to him. "What do _you_ care about it, Potter?" she challenged him.

"I don't," he argued. "I don't care at all. I just don't want my brother tangled up with…with…"

"Someone like me?" Eva finished for him, raising one of her eyebrows in a slightly intimidating manner. Her blue eyes flashed and James felt a twinge of satisfaction.

"There won't be anyone to be in competition with if you're busy snogging some bloke, Wood."

That was it, he realized with some relief. That was what had him so fervently objecting this; if Eva were off snogging Al, there would be no one to compete with on the pitch. Eva Wood might have been obnoxious, but he did like the rivalry that existed between them. Whether she knew it or not, she motivated him to be a better Quidditch player.

"Up until a week ago _you_ had a girlfriend," Al logically pointed out, clearly not believing James's argument one bit.

"We broke up because she was interfering with Quidditch," James defended himself hotly.

Suddenly Fred was at his elbow and laughing uproariously. "She ditched you because didn't spend enough time with her _because_ of Quidditch."

James felt his ears grow warm. Bloody Weasley family trait.

All right, so Maria had ditched him because he liked Quidditch more than he fancied her. She was nice and a good kisser, but she wasn't much of a Quidditch fan. Considering that James lived and breathed all things Quidditch, he had a problem with dating a girl who didn't feel the same.

Eva rolled her eyes. "Well, as much fun as this has been, I think I'll be going."

"She's something else," Fred commented in an undecipherable tone as the three boys watched Eva make her way across the room and settle down at a circular table with her best friend and two of the other sixth year girls.

"Yeah…" James replied as they went back to their comfy chairs by the fireplace.

"So, how was it?" Fred eagerly asked Al, nudging him playfully with his elbow.

James glared at his cousin and thwacked him upside the head for good measure. What kind of a stupid question was that? Anyway, he wanted to forget that all of this…_ridiculousness_… had ever happened.

"You owe me an extra bag of chocolate frogs," Al muttered as he sunk slowly into his chair.

James pulled a face. "What for?"

Al shot him a slightly patronizing look. "You almost managed to get me killed. You're a rotten brother."

"Cheers, Al."

"So, how was it?" Fred repeated.

"I dunno, it only lasted about five seconds," Al replied wearily, his face resting in the palm of his hand. "It was nice, I guess."

"Nice? That's all you can say about your first kiss? That it was _nice_?"

"I don't have to take this," Al huffed indignantly, his ears tinged red again. And with that, he stood up, stomped across the common room, and retreated up the boys' staircase presumably to his dormitory.

James rummaged through his rucksack and pulled out his Transfiguration book and propped it open in his lap. The professor had assigned them two chapters of reading and James hadn't even begun yet. But try as he might to concentrate, his gaze kept being torn away from the pages of his book to rest on Eva Wood.

As much as James wanted to put the mental image of Al kissing Eva as far out of his mind as possible, the image just wouldn't leave. It was most distressing.

"I reckon you fancy her."

James stared blankly at his cousin.

"You fancy Eva Wood," Fred informed him with a knowing smirk.

James felt his mouth drop open in what was probably a very unattractive manner. "Wood? Are you mad? I-I couldn't fancy that arrogant Quidditch-know-it-all."

Fred ignored this completely. "Eva's not my type, but I think she's yours. Dedicated to Quidditch, can hold her own in an argument, knows how to get you to shut up…yeah, I can see it."

"I _do not_ fancy Eva Wood!" James protested as he crossed his arms and sat back in his chair with a disgruntled harrumph. "You're mental."

"Let me know when you figure it out, won't you?"

"There's _nothing_ to figure out," James all but hissed.

Him and Eva Wood? Impossible. James shook his head in attempt to clear his mind from the events of the last twenty minutes of his life.

But as much as he wanted the memories of what had happened to go away, they simply wouldn't. They stuck in his head, popping up constantly whether he liked it or not. The fact of the matter was, after the events that took place in the Gryffindor common room on the evening of 10 December of his sixth year, James Potter never looked at Eva Wood in quite the same way again.

**The End (Sort Of)**

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**Thanks for reading! Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!**

**If you enjoyed James, Eva, Fred, and Al, then check out my chapter length story "Game On" which features all of them! For anyone who is already reading "Game On," I hope that gave you some fun insight into James's mind! :) **


	2. James is Still Happily in Denial

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.

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_Chapter Two: James is Still Happily in Denial  
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**A/N: "All Sorts of Wrong" was supposed to be a oneshot, but reviewer extraordinaire rednose convinced me that I had to share when James finally realized that he fancied Eva. So this chapter is dedicated to rednose for her encouragement. There will be one more chapter after this. Enjoy!**

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The Great Hall was bustling with people eating breakfast when James felt someone settle themselves into the empty seat next to him at the Gryffindor table.

"Just so you know, I think it's adorable."

James lowered his forkful of eggs and turned to stare incredulously at his sister. "What in the name of Merlin's pants are you on about?"

"You fancying Eva Wood, of course" Lily answered simply as though that statement wasn't somehow the single most idiotic thing that had ever come out of her mouth.

He turned to his cousin Fred and scowled. "_You git_," he said forcefully. "I can't believe you're spreading that rubbish around the castle."

Fred grinned widely and shrugged. "Not the entire castle – I just told the family."

Christopher Longbottom nearly choked on his baked beans and toast. "That's essentially like telling the entire castle and you know it."

"But I _don't _fancy her!" James cried. "Al's the one who kissed her and yet somehow _I'm_ the one who's being accused of fancying her?"

He did not understand this at all. Al had been the one to…well, it had been Al and not him. And for some odd reason, no one was accusing Al of fancying Eva.

"For a bloke that doesn't fancy Eva Wood, you were awfully touchy about Al kissing her," Christopher observed as he loaded some eggs onto his fork.

"Sorry?" James said, now extremely confused. "_You_ weren't even there when it happened! You were in the library looking for that book we needed for our Defense essay."

All right - he admitted it. He had gone a bit over board in his adamancy that the idea of Al and Eva was wrong. But wrong it was, and he would stand by that.

"Al only kissed her because we dared him to and offered him a load chocolate in return," Fred pointed out.

Oh, yeah, James thought as he remembered that he owed his younger brother a significant amount of chocolate for completing the dare. Better add that to the list of things he needed to purchase the next time there was a Hogsmeade visit planned.

"Besides," Fred was saying, "your reaction said it all, mate."

James helped himself to a piece of toast and said stiffly, "My reaction was that it was incredibly weird and wrong to see my younger brother kiss the girl who's been my rival on the pitch for three and a half years."

Lily slowly rolled her brown eyes as she reached for a goblet of pumpkin juice. "James, you're my brother and I love you, but you're being intentionally thick."

His younger sister could be rather blunt sometimes. Like right now. Both Fred and Christopher started laughing.

"Sorry?" he all but spluttered. She stared back at him over the top of her goblet. "You're only thirteen – what do you know about it?"

"You're my brother," Lily repeated. "I notice things about you. And I've noticed that _you_ notice a lot of things about _Eva_."

James wearily dropped his face into his hand. "Can you please just drop this? I don't fancy her, all right?"

No one agreed to let the matter drop, but no one said anything to him about Eva Wood for the remainder of breakfast. At first, James took this as a good sign. Perhaps things would go back to normal. Then he ran into Al on his way to Transfiguration.

"Al – hold up!" he said, grabbing his brother by the arm of robes and steering him through a crowd of students and off to the side of the corridor.

"What?" Al asked, looking genuinely confused. He adjusted the strap of his rucksack; it had nearly fallen off his shoulder when James had waylaid him.

"Er…have you _seen_ your hair?" James replied, not even trying to hold back a laugh. Al looked beyond absolutely comical.

"So it sticks up in the back," Al defended himself, bright green eyes filled with confusion. "It always has done. Yours does too."

"It's white blonde."

Al pulled out of his grasp and quickly moved towards the nearest suit of armor. Using a particularly well-polished shield, he examined his now, very bright, very white blonde hair.

"But…what…" Al stammered as he gazed, bewildered, at the reflection staring back at him.

Down at the end of the corridor, James saw Tristan standing, watching the pair of them. A very satisfied smirk was playing around his mouth and he was twirling his wand between his fingers.

"Tristan," James supplied darkly. "It's punishment for…_you know_."

Bloody hell, now he couldn't even say it out loud. What was _wrong_ with him?

Just then, Fred sauntered up sporting the same ridiculous hair color as Al. James wasn't sure who white blonde looked worse on: Al with his very pale skin or Fred with his light brown skin. Both were laughable and looked like exceedingly bad dye jobs.

"Did he have to choose white blonde?" Fred commented with an air of disgust. "We look like we belong in the bleeding Malfoy family." He wrinkled his nose at the very thought.

"Why am _I _being punished?" Al groaned. He was now trying to flatten hair. As James knew well from dealing with his own naturally untidy hair, it was a hopeless business. "You're the ones who dared me. And James wasn't even jinxed."

James tried to hold back a smirk. After having his breakfast ruined by Fred and Lily, it was nice to see at least one of them get their comeuppance.

"I wouldn't smirk too much, if I were you," Fred told him with a smirk of his own. He gestured to the suit of armor. "Take a look."

James whipped around and pushed Al out of the way. He nearly groaned aloud when he saw his own reflection. He looked back at his cousin and brother again. "Oh, Godric…"

The three of them tried every counter curse they could think of, but nothing worked. James found this particularly frustrating since he and Fred had used hair-coloring spells on some of the members of the Slytherin Quidditch team in the past. He knew there were counter curses, but none of the ones they knew successfully turned their hair back to its normal shades. In the end, there was nothing to do but go to lessons and attempt to solve the problem later.

"What happened to you two?" Christopher laughed as James and Fred dropped into their seats next to him in Transfiguration.

James was _really _starting to regret having ever joined in on that stupid dare.

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As usual, James was the first one to appear at practice that evening. Personally, James thought that morning practices were preferable to evening ones because other teams were less likely to be snooping around. But unfortunately, Sean was the captain and Sean didn't want to wake up early even if was for the sake of Quidditch. There wasn't much (if anything) that James and Sean saw eye to eye on. James had long ago decided that when we he was captain that he would run things very differently.

He sat on the ground and did some thigh stretches, feeling his muscles relax. He had been rather tense all day. Given the circumstances, it wasn't difficult to imagine the cause.

"_What _happened to you, Potter?"

James looked up to see Eva Wood standing in front of him laughing her head off at the sight of his still white blonde hair. She had tied her light brown hair up in a ponytail and was wearing her usual Puddlemere United jumper. Her loyalty to Puddlemere came only second to her loyalty to Gryffindor House.

James grimaced. "Your brother happened, _that's_ what. Christopher and Fred are in the library looking up the counter curse right now."

"Which brother?" Eva asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

"Tristan. I don't think Gareth or Richard could pull off a spell like this yet."

Eva nodded and her blue eyes sparkled with unconcealed amusement. "Probably not," she agreed. "Unless Tristan's been teaching them and they're all after you lot. That would be a laugh."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Wood," James scoffed. "Couldn't you tell him to leave off?"

Eva snorted in a rather unattractive manner. "You think Tristan listens to me? You were there when the…when the mistletoe… _thing_ happened." Her cheeks turned a bit pink at this. "He doesn't exactly always listen to reason."

"Can't you at least _talk_ to him?" James hoped that it didn't sound as though he was pleading, even though he most certainly was. "I'm a bit tired of looking like Malfoy's cousin."

Eva laughed at this. "Oh, I don't know. I think you could have the personality for a Slytherin. Resourceful, ambitious, occasionally cunning."

James smirked at her. "I only use my cunning to out play you at Quidditch. And if I am ambitious it's to be Quidditch captain."

Eva rolled her eyes and began stretching out her arm muscles. "Potter, you've never outplayed me in your life. Dream on."

"I think we both know who's the better player around here, and it _isn't _you," he told her.

Though he would never admit it to her, Eva Wood _was _a talented Quidditch player. Out of everyone on the team (except him, that was), she was the most dedicated and hardworking. Her drive and ambition to improve constantly made him reassess his own skills and to raise the bar even higher on his own goals. After all, he had to stay ahead of her.

James opened his mouth to say something else that would make her eyes blaze, but at that moment, she stretched her arms a couple of extra inches above her head. Her jumper rode up a bit, exposing just a hint of smooth, pale skin and James completely forgot what he was going to say. His mind was an absolute blank.

His facial expression must have been appeared slightly abnormal because Eva was regarding him with a funny look. "Are you all right, Potter? You look a bit peaky."

"Replacing our Seeker_…that_ would be a loss," came a deep, sarcastic voice from behind him.

James felt his jaw clench in anger and annoyance.

Sean O'Mara was an arrogant, ginger idiot and James had no idea how in the world he had been named Gryffindor captain. It was surely one of the great injustices of James's life. James would have much rather seen Tristan as captain. Despite the recent jinxing spree, he usually got on well with Tristan Wood. He had less than no idea what the previous captain, Lorna, had seen in O'Mara. Of course, in an ideal world, he, James would have named captain at the end of last term.

O'Mara threw his arm around Eva shoulder's, something she didn't seem to mind. O'Mara was Tristan's mate, so that meant Eva spent a decent amount of time with the gormless prat. Eva was such a Quidditch-know-it-all that it made sense that she would willingly associate herself with an obnoxious idiot like O'Mara. Still, it rankled James a bit.

"Remind me – how many matches have I helped win for Gryffindor?" James asked.

O'Mara shrugged at James's words. "A fair few. Doesn't mean we couldn't do without you."

"If the two of you are just going to stand and row, I'm going for a quick run around the pitch," Wood said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She shrugged off O'Mara's arm and took up a moderate pace.

All at once, James noticed something that he had never noticed before. When Wood had moved away from him, O'Mara had looked slightly disappointed, and as she jogged away, his eyes had lingered on her for just a moment too long.

So…O'Mara fancied Wood. For some odd reason, this made James want to punch his captain in the face even more than usual.

"Good luck with _that_," James told O'Mara with a smirk. "I doubt there's a more oblivious girl in Hogwarts."

At his words, O'Mara turned to face him, an angry red color spreading across his face.

"Might say the same to you after seeing what a prat you made of yourself in the common room the other day."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James challenged, stepping closer to O'Mara. He was actually just taller than O'Mara, which made James feel rather confident.

"Your brother kissed Eva and you couldn't stand it. I would think even a blind person could figure that one out, Potter."

O'Mara thought that he fancied Eva Wood? Godric, what was wrong with everyone in the bleeding castle? Was everyone else in on some sort of conspiracy? It certainly felt like it.

"Piss off," James told O'Mara as he turned away.

"Out here on the pitch, I'm your captain, Potter. Laps! Ten of them!" O'Mara yelled at his retreating back.

James resisted the urge to shoot O'Mara a rude hand gesture and instead broke out into a run. He was used to being assigned laps for what his plank of a captain liked to call "insubordination."

Wood was jogging a bit ahead of him and he quickened his pace in the hopes of lapping her. James grinned widely at the thought of how her blue eyes would blaze as he ran past.

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**Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and story alerts! I appreciate everyone who reads my story and everyone who has let me know how much they enjoy it! And thanks to my fantastic best friend for her editing skills.**

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!

**Next Chapter:** Eva proves rather distracting, Eva's brothers corner James in the common room, and James makes a rather startling discovery (wonder what that could be…). :)


	3. James Gets a Grip on Reality

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of the amazingly talented J.K Rowling. I'm only borrowing the characters and world that she has so brilliantly created.

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_Chapter Three: __James Gets a Grip on Reality_

**A/N:**_ For my beta and best friend, the real Christine – happy wedding! _

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Eva Wood, James had noticed, had trouble staying still. They were currently in Charms listening to Professor Flitwick's lecture and she was sitting two rows in front of him with her friends, Christine and Kieran. It was completely distracting, the way she was nearly always moving some part of her body, even if it was in the smallest of ways.

First she had brushed her hair out of her eyes. She had gotten it trimmed over Christmas holiday and he wasn't certain that he liked it. When her hair was longer it was slightly wavier and it caught the light better.

Then she had been taping her foot softly on the floor. One moment she had her feet stretched out in front of her and the next they were tucked back under her chair, ankles crossed. Then she was swinging her legs back and forth, barely letting the tips of her black shoes brush the stone so as not to make any noise. Then she was leaning forward as she wrote her notes. Then she was sitting back in her chair and stretching her arms in front of her ever so slightly.

Taken completely by surprise, James reflexively recoiled as he felt Fred's wickedly sharp elbow digging into his left side.

"What the bleeding hell was that for?" James hissed, rubbing his side. Godric, he had received softer jabs on the Quidditch pitch from the Slytherins.

"Put your eyes back in your head," Fred whispered back out of the side of his mouth.

"What he means to say," Christopher amended without taking his eyes away from the parchment on which he was writing notes, "is that Flitwick is going to notice if you don't stop staring at Eva and start paying attention to the lecture."

James felt righteous indignant flare up inside of him. "I _am_ paying attention!"

Fred snorted, showing that James's words had been believed at all. "Paying attention _to Eva Wood_, more like."

"Flitwick was talking about the ways to control the water stream from _augamenti,_" James stubbornly defended himself. There. Now his mates would believe him.

Christopher grinned knowingly. "He's been off that topic for five minutes."

James opened his mouth to protest, but in an extremely rare instance, couldn't think of anything to say. Fred grinned widely as he tapped his quill against his desk. Christopher tried to hide his smile as a fake yawn as Professor Flitwick looked in their direction.

"Did you have a question, Mr. Potter?" Flitwick asked, staring at him from across the classroom from his perch on a stack of heavy looking books.

"No, Sir," he said attempting to sound as innocent as possible.

It seemed to have worked, because Professor Flitwick said, "Good, then if everyone will kindly pay attention to this demonstration…this is very important."

But James's mind was already wandering again.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

James hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep until he felt someone poking him in the shoulder. Peeling open his eyes, he gazed blearily around the Gryffindor common room. Fred had apparently left him to finish his essay on his own because his cousin's rucksack and belongings were gone. He saw a spot of drool on his own essay where his face had been resting.

Then his eyes landed on who had prodded him awake, and he had to restrain himself from jumping slightly in his seat. Richard and Gareth Wood, Eva's younger twin brothers stood in front of him wearing very serious expressions. After everything that had happened between him and the Woods lately, well… suffice it to say that James had become slightly wary of any of the members of that family.

"Yeah?" he asked, voice still a tad groggy from sleep.

Richard and Gareth glanced at each other, and then Gareth said earnestly, "We did some thinking and talked about it over Christmas holiday, and we're all right with it."

James merely stared at the pair of them. "All right with _what_?" he asked, rather feeling as though he was missing a vital piece of information they very clearly expected him to understand. He hated to disappoint them, but he hadn't a clue what they were on about.

"Eva," Gareth supplied.

So…they were all right… with something concerning Eva...Odd. And a bit cryptic. Then all at once something clicked in James's mind.

"Are you – are you talking about – " James started to say but broke off, unsure of how to continue with that statement.

"We know you fancy our sister," Richard supplied in his usual blunt manner.

James rubbed his forehead with the heals of his hands, then ran a hand wearily through his already characteristically untidy hair. He was certain that he was forming a bit of a headache.

"Who told you I fancy her?" James asked, voice sounding a bit surly. Good. Maybe it would give them the hint to leave him alone about Eva Wood.

"So you're admitting it?" Gareth asked eagerly, brown eyes lighting up happily.

"_No_," James snapped in frustration. "I'm just asking what sod is going around spreading that bleeding rumor."

"Tristan told us about what happened with the mistletoe," Gareth explained, fidgeting a bit at the remembrance of what had happened. "And then Fred told us that you made such a scene because you fancied Eva and didn't want her kissing Al."

"It _is_ kind of wonky," Richard added as he considered it. "Are you jealous?"

"W-what?" James nearly choked on nothing at all. Jealous of his younger brother? Al was great and all – really, spiffing brother – but he wasn't jealous of him in any way, shape, or form. Jealous? Where were they coming up with this complete and utter rubbish?

The twins glanced at each other again. James vaguely wondered if that they were communicating with each other when they did that. Not Legilimency – as fourth years, they were too young to be capable of that. But maybe being twins they could read signs and signals in each other's eyes and expressions that others missed?

"Don't worry," Richard told him, apparently trying to be helpful. "Eva's dead clueless. She'll never know until you want her to."

Which would be never, thought James, considering he didn't fancy her. Godric Gryffindor – what did he have to do to make someone in this castle believe him?

"She might start hyperventilating, though," Gareth mused. "I mean…She's disliked you for years. Though Mum reckons that she secretly likes having you as a rival."

Well. That was…that was _interesting_.

"Okay," James said for lack of anything else better to say.

His life had become so incredibly awkward since December. He wished it would just go back to normal – a life in which his cousins didn't bring up Eva Wood every time they saw him, in which Fred minded his own business a little more, in which his Mum didn't send him awkward letters inquiring about the rumors she'd been hearing from the family.

"She's not so bad," Richard said. "She's a bit stubborn and judgmental and isn't always very social, but she's funny and very loyal and a good Gryffindor and knows her Quidditch."

James couldn't really argue with that assessment of Eva Wood. As far as James was concerned, everything Richard had said was spot on. Wood knew her Quidditch - just not as well as he did, of course.

"You forgot know-it-all," James smirked.

"Just towards you," Richard informed him.

Surprise flitted through James's mind at this new information. "Really?"

Richard and Gareth both nodded.

"Tell me something," James demanded when he couldn't think of any other way to dispel their preconceived ideas about his feelings.

"Anything," Richard replied in an even tone.

James felt his mouth quirk up in a smirk as he momentarily toyed with the idea of asking Richard how he felt about Lily just to give the younger boy a taste of his own medicine. But instead he asked, "Why are you all so keen on me fancying your sister?"

"I don't need glasses, you know," Gareth answered with a roll of his brown eyes.

James wasn't even sure what that was supposed to mean.

"Look," Richard said firmly. "You're a good sort, and our Eva could do a lot worse."

"Also," Gareth added after the pair had shared another meaningful glance, "we've seen the way you look at her when you forget that you're supposed to dislike her."

James found that he didn't have an answer for that. That had been happening far too often for him lately. He didn't much care for it.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

It was ridiculous, James thought. If Fred hadn't given Al that sodding dare in the first place, none of this would have happened. Weeks later, James still couldn't get Eva completely out of his mind. It was maddening, really. Richard's words kept coming back to him – "are you jealous?"

_Was_ he jealous? Jealous that Al had been the one to give Eva her first kiss? That his brother had had the opportunity to kiss her at all? James's hand started tingling strangely, and he released the tightly clenched fist he had been unaware he was making. Feeling rushed back into his hand and he flexed his fingers a bit.

Eva Wood was saying something to him, and judging by her raised eyebrow and the tilt of her mouth, it wasn't a pleasant something. He just stared, lost in his own realm of inexplicable thoughts, entirely forgetting that he was at the Gryffindor team practice.

With a quickness honed by her Quidditch training, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers loudly, directly in front of his face.

"Potter! Did Fred accidentally hit you with a confundus charm again?"

Her eyes were searching his face suspiciously, as though searching for traces of a spell. Wood's eyes were a bright blue color and were highly expressive. With a flicker or glance of her eyes, it was possible to discern a great deal about her emotions. At this particular moment, she was cross, but also confused.

"Potter!" she snapped her fingers again, and he was harshly jolted out of his musings.

"Huh?" he answered not very intelligently.

Eva rolled her eyes. "Pay attention, would you? The final is in one week. You need to be focused. This can't happen on the pitch."

"You're not my captain," he told her, feeling very defensive all of a sudden. "Stop bossing me around."

"I'm not bossing you around, you looked as though you'd been hit with a particularly strong confundus charm. I wanted to make sure that you were capable of flying."

"Thanks for your concern," James replied drily, "but I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes as she mounted her broom. She kicked hard off the ground, and James watched as she soared overhead.

"James, you going to join us or what?" Tristan asked as he flew by.

"Coming!" he yelled at Tristan's retreating back.

Mounting his own broom, James joined the rest of the team in the air. The Chasers practiced drills for a while, focusing on accuracy and force. James was set to practicing dodging Bludgers and weaving in and out of the Chasers as they executed their own plays.

As Eva went into a steep dive, her hair fluttered out behind her and she grinned widely as the wind rushed past her face. She twirled in a spiral, and then pulled out of the dive. She was laughing and her eyes were alight with excitement.

She was breathtaking. James felt stunned. More than stunned, really.

He fancied Eva Wood.

_He fancied Eva Wood_.

In his shock, he forgot to pay attention to steering his own broom and very nearly flew into one of the golden hoops of the goal post.

"Potter!" O'Mara barked angrily. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your head on straight or get off my pitch!"

James ignored O'Mara and took off after the Golden Snitch, which he had just spotted hovering close to the ground. The cool air rushed past his face. It felt good against his suddenly very warm skin.

_Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell._

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

"You were right."

Fred looked up from his carefully constructed tower of chocolate frog cards. "'Course I was. What about?"

James swallowed with some difficult and forced her name past his lips. "Eva Wood."

Christopher smiled at this news, but Fred was positively beaming.

"I can't believe he figured it out already!" Fred cried with a distinct air of glee.

"I thought it might take longer," Christopher agreed. "He was in massive denial from the start."

"Cheers, you're both fantastic mates," James told them sarcastically. He threw himself down onto his four-poster with a heavy sigh.

"So, are you going to ask her to Hogsmeade?"

James shot into a sitting position once more and stared incredulously at his cousin. "Ask Eva Wood to Hogsmeade? Are you _mad_?"

"Not that I'm aware, why?"

James made a face. "She hates me! She'd probably rather go with the Slytherin Quidditch captain!"

"Nah, I don't reckon she does," Fred replied easily. "Warrington resembles a troll."

When that was all he said, James looked to Christopher for a further explanation. In response, Christopher shrugged. "I don't think she hates you. When I talk with her in Herbology, she doesn't talk about you much. I mean, she has said that you're a prat, but she's also said that you're talented."

Well, _that _was something.

He should have seen it. He really should have done. All of the signs were there – physical attraction, riling her up just to see her eyes blaze, admiring her Quidditch knowledge and her spirit and drive. _Good Godric_, how had he missed it? It had always been easy for him to read the signs in others – how had he completely missed it in himself? It was pathetic.

"So…what are you going to do about it?" Christopher prompted him out of his reverie.

James thought for a moment. It was a question that he'd been pondering since his feelings toward Eva Wood had first become apparent to him a few hours ago.

"Haven't a clue," he decided with a shrug. "But…I need time to adjust to his. _Bloody hell_…fancying Eva Wood…" he ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the black strands in frustration.

"Never thought I'd see that happen," Fred commented lightly.

A thought occurred to James, and he suddenly moved towards the door, intent on following out his plan.

"Where're you off to?" Christopher asked with a barely concealed smile.

"To row with Wood," James answered as he reached out and pulled the dormitory door forcibly open.

As he did so, Al, Richard, and Gareth toppled in through the doorway in a heap of limbs. Apparently, there had been standing outside the door listening to every word that had been said in the sixth year boys' dormitory.

"At least buy some extendable ears," James told them as he marched past the three boys who were currently struggling to sort themselves out and stand up. "Your espionage skills are embarrassing."

"Don't mind him," he heard Fred say as he rounded a bend in the staircase, "He's only just realized he fancies the pants off of Eva."

From the staircase landing, James could see Wood sitting with her best friend, Christine, at a circular table at the far side of the common room. She was laughing at something that Christine had said. She looked genuinely happy and carefree. He also couldn't help but notice that she looked very pretty when she laughed. He wished that she would laugh like that at something he had said.

"Wood!" he said loudly as he rapidly approached her.

She glanced up from the book and parchment spread out in front of her and surveyed him with slightly curious eyes.

"What?"

"You should talk to O'Mara and tell him that we need to be practicing more before the final."

"I agree," she said immediately. "We should be practicing every day and doing more endurance training, but I'm not the captain. Yet. I'll make sure to change that when I am," she added with a slight twinkle in her eyes.

"We'll see about that," he told her, his mouth pulling into a smirk. He couldn't help it – he always smirked when he wanted to start a row with her. "You really need to work on keeping the Quaffle tucked under your arm properly. Last match, the Hufflepuff Chasers had it out from under your arm twice."

Her eyes were immaterially ablaze with icy blue fire. His stomach clenched excitedly at the sight and he felt a thrill of satisfaction. He loved it. Godric, she had expressively marvelous eyes. She just had such…._gumption_.

"Yes, because that move where you almost flew into the goal posts today was _perfectly_ executed," she replied, voice fairly dripping with sarcasm.

His felt his ears grown warm with heat. Bleeding Weasley family trait. All right, so that hadn't been the best display of his Quidditch abilities. He folded his arms across his chest defensively.

"James, was there something you wanted?" Christine asked, speaking up for the first time. She glanced between him and Eva for a brief moment with a curious expression. "Only we're trying to study for the Potions final."

James shrugged. "Just talk to O'Mara, would you, Wood? You're the only one he remotely listens to."

Thinking of why it was that O'Mara listened to Eva made James clench his jaw slightly. Bleeding tosser.

"Fine, I'll talk to him," Wood replied easily. "That all?"

"Yeah," he answered before striding away.

He headed towards the portrait hole, not wanting to face his friends and relatives again just yet. In fact, he felt greatly in need of a long, stress-relieving fly on his broomstick.

Bloody hell. Fancying Eva Wood…what in the name of Merlin was he going to do about _that_?

**The End**

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

**So what _did_ James do about it? That's another story. Literally!**

For anyone who may not have read it, Game On picks up at the very beginning of James and Eva's seventh year with Eva as the main character and narrator. What James did about fancying Eva is all explained in Game On, and in particular James describes his thoughts on the matter in chapter twenty-three.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Favorite quotes? I'd love to hear what you thought!

**Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and story alerts! I appreciate everyone who reads my story and everyone who has let me know how much they enjoy it! And thanks to my fantastic best friend for her editing skills.**

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my wonderful readers!


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